[szore]

are there cables you can try out at canjam?

Oh, yeah.

 

[mattiastomas]

Just realized that CanJam is in a month! Tickets purchased and hotel booked!

Looking forward to meeting everyone!

 

[GodEmperor]

JH Audio not making an appearance?

 

[Ike1985]

Could a few of you guys who are going get impressions of the Mass Kobo 465? I would greatly appreciate it as I am unable to attend. Thank you.

 

[third_eye]

Spirit Torino added to exhibitor list!

 

[chrisnyc75]

Spirit Torino added to exhibitor list!

Yes! Definitely one of the main reasons I am attending. Had a brief listen to their insanely expensive Valkyria last year and it kinda blew my mind. Definitely planning on spending more time analyzing it this year.

 

[ralphp@optonline]

Yes! Definitely one of the main reasons I am attending. Had a brief listen to their insanely expensive Valkyria last year and it kinda blew my mind. Definitely planning on spending more time analyzing it this year.

And the Spirit Torino's equally expensive headphone amp is also worth a listen.

 

[chrisnyc75]

And the Spirit Torino's equally expensive headphone amp is also worth a listen.

Yep, heard the Valkyria powered by that amp. Not really in the market for another amp, though.... though it does raise the question of how much Valkyria "sounds like" the amp

 

[goldwerger]

I’m going to give the Valkyria a second listen as well. I never found them good enough, but I was looking for that 12k quality. If they were priced at 3-4k, perhaps I’d have paid more attention. They set the bar too high imho and are definitely not over performing some great headphones in the 4-6k for me. But I’ll try to give it a fresh listen ignoring the price and see what I can find about them. I may have missed the mark.

Great point regarding the amp. The Spirit guys don’t do a great job in terms of the demo chains they bring to shows. I know some AIC10 owners loved their amps with the Valkyria, I wonder how much was taste vs. chain synergy a factor in their different experiences.

 

[chrisnyc75]

I’m going to give the Valkyria a second listen as well. I never found them good enough, but I was looking for that 12k quality. If they were priced at 3-4k, perhaps I’d have paid more attention. They set the bar too high imho and are definitely not over performing some great headphones in the 4-6k for me. But I’ll try to give it a fresh listen ignoring the price and see what I can find about them. I may have missed the mark.

Great point regarding the amp. The Spirit guys don’t do a great job in terms of the demo chains they bring to shows. I know some AIC10 owners loved their amps with the Valkyria, I wonder how much was taste vs. chain synergy a factor in their different experiences.

As an admitted Utopia fanboy, the first thing I thought when I heard Valkyria was "is this a BETTER Utopia?"

But yeah, I would like to hear it on other amps to determine how much of the magic is the headphone vs the amp. Although, if the difference is 100% the amp, then they have no joke potentially the best amp in the world.

 

[genefruit]

Great point regarding the amp. The Spirit guys don’t do a great job in terms of the demo chains they bring to shows.

This and their limited music selection really impacted my interest. The first time at CanJam Chicago two years ago they had maybe three test albums of their obscure choice. Last year at Chicago they had a few more but stuff was broken by Sunday. No interest in letting folks plug in their sources at those shows. Maybe they’ve progressed but at this point I’ve sailed.

 

[ESL-1]

I’m going to give the Valkyria a second listen as well. I never found them good enough, but I was looking for that 12k quality. If they were priced at 3-4k, perhaps I’d have paid more attention. They set the bar too high imho and are definitely not over performing some great headphones in the 4-6k for me. But I’ll try to give it a fresh listen ignoring the price and see what I can find about them. I may have missed the mark.

Great point regarding the amp. The Spirit guys don’t do a great job in terms of the demo chains they bring to shows. I know some AIC10 owners loved their amps with the Valkyria, I wonder how much was taste vs. chain synergy a factor in their different experiences.

I know a friend of mine listened to the Valkyria for a few seconds and realized the source was binaural….. my friend quickly got up and walked away disgusted.

Shows are always a tough listen but I found the Valkyria to not be even good competition for other known phones at half the price but that is my take.

 

[goldwerger]

I know a friend of mine listened to the Valkyria for a few seconds and realized the source was binaural….. my friend quickly got up and walked away disgusted.

Shows are always a tough listen but I found the Valkyria to not be even good competition for other known phones at half the price but that is my take.

yikes

I demo-ed them using my source (always do; plug my DAP with XLR or RCA out into whichever amp available).

Planning to approach it without any prejudice and openness to be wow-ed. I need a fresh take. My source to assure consistency of comparison. I do wonder what amp they’ll have there; or what combo I may be able to cook up on the fly to give this a fair shake. I’ll try to disregard the price as I think it creates an impossible bar of expectation, just get a fresh take for what it is.

I hope I can get a clean demo. I’m pretty sure I will.

 

[Hiker816]

I’m going to give the Valkyria a second listen as well. I never found them good enough, but I was looking for that 12k quality. If they were priced at 3-4k, perhaps I’d have paid more attention. They set the bar too high imho and are definitely not over performing some great headphones in the 4-6k for me. But I’ll try to give it a fresh listen ignoring the price and see what I can find about them. I may have missed the mark.

Great point regarding the amp. The Spirit guys don’t do a great job in terms of the demo chains they bring to shows. I know some AIC10 owners loved their amps with the Valkyria, I wonder how much was taste vs. chain synergy a factor in their different experiences.

This and their limited music selection really impacted my interest. The first time at CanJam Chicago two years ago they had maybe three test albums of their obscure choice. Last year at Chicago they had a few more but stuff was broken by Sunday. No interest in letting folks plug in their sources at those shows. Maybe they’ve progressed but at this point I’ve sailed.

At the last SoCal CanJam, they let me listen to my own source with no hesitation at all. That's weird that they wouldn't let you, @genefruit But, they were driving the Valkyria with a Shanling M30. Not to disparage the Shanling--it's a fantastic all-in-one--but I'm still scratching my head at that choice when Spirit Torino could have brought its matched Sigfrig hybrid amp instead. Nonetheless, I was pretty taken with the Valkyria when I heard it at the show. So much so that I set my wallet aflame and purchased one. I wasn't so sure about it the first 2-3 weeks. I was still fiddling with the fit and adjusting to the weight, and while it sounded good, it didn't quite blow me away like at CanJam. But whether it was headphone burn in or brain burn in, it really started to come into its own at about 3 weeks. I mean really. Now, I am completely infatuated with it and can't wait to listen to it every day.

 

[joseph69]

I know a friend of mine listened to the Valkyria for a few seconds and realized the source was binaural….. my friend quickly got up and walked away disgusted.

Shows are always a tough listen but I found the Valkyria to not be even good competition for other known phones at half the price but that is my take.

yikes

That friend was me.
When I sat down to demo the Valkyria I was waiting for the guy to start the music--but I kept looking to my left to see who was playing the live stand up bass? I then asked the guy "are you going to start the music"? His reply was it's been playing--it's a binaural recording--which is why I though someone was playing a stand up bass to my left. I was so dumbfounded as to why this guy would try to fool me with a binaural recording as if this was the impressive staging of the Valkyria--I politely said thank you--got up and walked away.